Study names top “powerhouse” fruits and veggies

The Centers for Disease Control has come out with a list of 41 “powerhouse fruits and vegetables,”based on the amounts of 17 critical nutrients they contain.

To create the list researchers at William Paterson University in New Jersey calculated how dense with nutrients various fruits and vegetables are, based on the percentage of the recommended daily intake for each nutrient the foods provide. Researchers then ranked the fruits and vegetables based on their content of fiber, potassium, protein, calcium, folate, vitamin B12, vitamin A, vitamin D and other nutrients that they consider important to public health.

At the top of the list was watercress, with a score of 100, which meant that the vegetable provides 100 percent of the daily need for each nutrient that the food provides. Number two was Chinese cabbage, with a score of 91.99, and third was chard, with a score of 89.27. Kale, the leafy green that has received a lot of attention in health media recently, was 15th on the list, with a score of 49.07. Fruits did not score high on the ranking—tomato had a score of 20.37, while strawberries received 17.59, and blackberries received 11.39.

The researchers said people should, however, make a point of consuming any of the fruits and vegetables that made the list.

Good sleep key to memory formation

There’s more evidence that if you want keep a sharp brain and a good memory, good sleep habits can make a big difference.

The new findings come from researchers at New York University School of Medicine and Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, who focused on determining how memory works. The first part of the study involved training mice how to walk on top of a rotating rod. Next, using the method of advance microscopy, the researchers examined how sleep and sleep deprivation affected the animals’ brains.

The results showed that adequate sleep was correlated with more connections made between brain cells—a finding which the research team said was previously unknown. The study also showed that during deep or slow-wave sleep phases, the brain replayed activities from earlier in the day. The findings, published in the journal Science, suggest that sleep helps the brain both make connections and form memories.

Can rats show regret?

New research has found that rats may be capable of having feelings of regret—a cognitive behavior previously thought to be unique to humans.

Scientists at the University of Minnesota Department of Neuroscience first defined regret as “the recognition that you made a mistake, that if you had done something else, you would have been better off.” They then aimed to measure regret in rats using a task that they called “Restaurant Row.” The rats were made to wait in line for “restaurants,” with various food options presented to them, but with limited time for each.

The researchers observed that the rats were willing to wait longer for certain food options, which implied that they had individual preferences. By measuring the rats’ unique preferences, the researchers were then able to measure whether the rats received relatively good or bad deals.

The study’s findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, revealed that the same part of the brain that is active in humans during regret—called the orbitofrontal cortex—became active in the rats’ brains when they recognized missing a good opportunity and regretted not making a certain decision. Researchers said that further research could help lead to a better understanding of humans’ motives and how regret affects decision-making behaviors.

Night owls more likely to be couch potatoes

People who stay up late are more likely to follow a less active lifestyle, according to new research.

Scientists in the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University recruited 123 healthy adults for the study, all of whom reported that they slept at least 6.5 hours a night. Over seven days, the researchers used sleep diaries to measure sleep variation and questionnaires to measure physical activity and attitudes toward exercise.

The study’s findings, published in the journal Sleep, revealed a link between sleep times and physical activity. The researchers found that the study participants who went to bed later and woke up later reported more time sitting and less time exercising, particularly on weekends. The study’s participants who described themselves as “night owls” also perceived more barriers to exercise, including not having enough time and difficulty sticking to an exercise schedule.

The study suggests that adults should be aware of sleep timing when trying to adhere to an exercise plan. And the researchers suggested that health care providers should consider circadian factors when giving exercise advice.